First Rig Gig

It has been  long time since I've written something but I wanted to work at this job for a while before I formed an opinion and shared it with others....... so here goes. We arrived at our first rig assignment mid afternoon on a Monday. We are situated just outside the city limits of Kairnes City, Texas (southwest of San Antonio). We are 4 miles from a WalMart, Pizza Hut, Subway and various restaurants. This is good.... some rigs are in the middle of no where and people have to drive 30 - 40 miles to grocery shop.
It didn't take log to get set up because Gate Guard Services assigns a "tender" to each gate. He brings the generator, water, septic system, lights, bell, sign, helps you get situated and then comes as needed to service the equipment and replenish the fuel and water supply. Our tender, Mark, visits us about once a week. The gate we were assigned services several activities for one company, Plains Exploration and Production (known as PXP). This gate has 4 "pads", 3 that will be used for drilling, and 1 that will be a "production pad". The gate is also an access point for a portion of a pipeline that will be bringing oil from all the wells in the area to the production pad for processing. Currently there is one well being drilled and that is the only activity we are to monitor, even though all the other workers and suppliers entered via our gate. It took a while for us to recognize the rig workers and suppliers from the others, but eventually I developed a system that worked. I asked the production pad people to wave as they entered, the pipeline people blinked their lights and the rig people stopped to check in.
Let me give you the lay of the land. Here is the motor home at the gate.That's Trinidad Rig 52 in the background behind the jeep.

This is the sun setting over the production pad across from us. The pad is about the size of 4 or 5 football fields.

It is springtime here and the flowers are blooming everywhere. Our neighbor on the other side of the production pad has a field full of these pretty red and pink flowers.

One week after our arrival, the first of the production pad equipment started to arrive.

Tomorrow, will be 5 weeks that we are here and the pad has changed considerably.

Their are 17 tanks, miles of pipeline, about 10 processors and Friday they brought in a huge compressor..... followed by a policeman. It seems they pulled a power line down in town when making a turn. It required a monstrous crane just to move the compressor from the truck to it's new location.

As for the job....... I like it. I call the rig guys my boys ....they look soooo young and work sooooo hard. 12 hours on, 12 hours off straight for 2 weeks, then 2 weeks off. I have been a nurse (one of them had an allergic reaction, one a rash and another a bowel problem), a guidance counselor (a trainee appeared at the gate at 11PM...."I quit, I'm going home"), a dorm mother, ("Well if I was into knives, yes, I think I would like that pink sequined pocket knife you bought your girlfriend") and marriage counselor. I've baked them cookies, received hugs and thanks. Some I am sorry to see leave, but never once have I been treated unkindly or without respect. Everything is "yes mam".
Here I am in my Easter Bonnet guarding the gate.

Some times we are steady busy and sometimes, like today, it is very slow. I look at it like this.... they are paying me to read a book, crochet an afghan, do my laundry and housecleaning. The hardest part is arranging things so that one of us is awake and available to check someone in or out 24 hours a day, everyday. Our rig is done drilling and the rig leaves tomorrow. We will be switched from drilling to production..... whatever that means..... I'll let you know. We are planning to continue this until the end of May. We 're also talking about spending next winter working here..... with the price of diesel fuel these days... it may be the only way we can afford to travel the remainder of the year.
I received this picture of Lukas yesterday..... enjoying Easter.